Global Arts Studies

UpstART Concert Season Promises Eclectic Mix of Music

October 8, 2024

Every year, UC Merced’s UpstART music series ignites the senses by bringing far-ranging genres to the stages. In 2024-25, take a seat for acts ranging from revolutionary mariachi and hip hop/Caribbean/Latin fusion to an improvising, story-weaving cellist … for a start....

Professor’s Documentary Film about Refugee Family Honored at Vienna International Festival

“Songs that Never End,” Professor Yehuda Sharim’s intimate film about a family transitioning from Iran to life in Texas, is a finalist contender in the International Documentary...

Grammy-Winning Drummer Antonio Sanchez to Perform Free Concert in Merced

Antonio Sanchez broke new ground for musical storytelling with his award-winning soundtrack for “Birdman.” He’s earned multiple Grammys for his work with guitar master Pat Metheny....

Skulls, or calaveras in Spanish, are a traditional symbol of Dia de los Muertos.

Students Bring Death to Life in Annual Downtown Dia de los Muertos Celebration

Death is a part of life, a loss surrounded typically by mourning and grief. But what if the passing of a loved one were also a transition to be celebrated? That is the sentiment behind Dia de los...

Students collaborate together to identify pieces of trash they can utilize for their structure.

Students Engineer Art from Trash for Annual Yosemite Facelift Event

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or in this case art. Each year Global Arts Studies Program Lecturer Richard Gomez brings students to Yosemite to create an art installation...

ShiPu Wang's curated exhibition titled “Chiura Obata: An American Modern” on display at the Crocker Museum in Sacramento.

First Sacramento, then the Smithsonian for Arts Faculty Member’s Curation

What is art’s place in turbulent times? How does an immigrant live and thrive in a host country with laws that render one’s existence alien? And how does one continue to see beauty even...

The Children’s Opera is geared toward children ages 3 and older and is just 45 minutes in length.

Annual UC Merced Children’s Opera Showcases the Arts to Local Little Ones

Parents don’t have to venture to San Francisco to give their children a taste of opera. With UC Merced’s Children’s Opera, little ones can have a unique cultural experience without...

Devon Glover, The Sonnet Man, speaks to students at Gracey Elementary School in Merced.

Shakespeare Rapper Schools Students with Hip Hop Sonnets

In what world are Shakespeare and hip-hop related? Ask Devon Glover. Glover is The Sonnet Man, a Shakespeare-loving rapper who sets The Bard’s famous sonnets to hip-hop instrumentals. Using...

Yu-Han Chao, a former UC Merced faculty member, will be reading an excerpt from her new book, a collection of short stories, at the university's Write! Look! Listen! series.

Former Faculty Member to Read from New Book at UC Merced Author Series

UC Merced is a research institution and while groundbreaking work is done in its labs, that doesn’t mean the arts aren’t thriving, too. For the past 10 years, the Write! Look! Listen!...

Young Artist Movement Making Room for More Art on Campus

Three enterprising Global Arts Studies Program (GASP) students saw the empty UC Merced Art Gallery on campus and, worried the space would be reallocated, wondered why they couldn’t volunteer to...